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<div class="MsoNormal">Mending the Cloth</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><b><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;
color:black"><i>For my ailing father, WWII Veteran and POW/MIA for nine months,
and <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;
color:black"><i>his <a name="_GoBack"></a>fallen Humpin’ Honey B-29 crew, lost
12-7-44.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Through the slits
of sun shining on the backroads, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">I imagine my
father's fallen crew sewing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">him back together
when he crosses over. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Nine men, each
with silk from the parachutes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">they never had
time to open, taking the tiniest <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">of stitches to
mend his torn cloth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">In return, my
father gives back the singular <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">heartbeats he has
carried for them <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">these past
sixty-eight years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Finally free of
the weight <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">of each man's
final moments, my father soars <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">back to his
hometown, to his mother and father and sisters,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">to the wife and
daughters who knew <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">a duty-bound man
with unresolved grief<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">and the guilt of
having survived. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Sometimes the
most generous contracts we make<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">carry the
heaviest burdens. It takes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">years until the
debt is repaid, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">each side to the
other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Sometimes we
never know the reason <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">so many had to
suffer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We can only know<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">what the heavens
reveal <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">on a solitary
afternoon when peace drops in <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">alone and
unannounced <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">like a silver
needle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">falling from the
sky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Jackie Hallerberg<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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